Who is to blame for the start of WW1?

[The Conez Imperium]

I've never seen this thread before, in my time on Nationstates and since it's the 100th year anniversary lets do this then, who is to blame for the start of WW1?

On the surface everyone would say Germany because they invaded Belgium. But what about other countries? Russia could be blamed for their partial moblisation fueling an European mobilisation, Austria-Hungary could also be blamed for their impossible ultimatum to Serbia knowing full well Serbia would not accept. Perhaps one cannot blame nations but people or ideas: Nationalism, Imperialism, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Conrad von Hötzendorf could all be blamed for the start of WW1. Listed below is but a very brief summary for the popular causes for the war

Nations

Germany
-Starting the naval arms race between Britain, antagonising Britain
-Schlieffen plan forced Germany to go to war against France if she wanted to go to war against Russia.
-Infamous blank check to Austria-Hungary
-When Serbia accepted the ultimatum, Wilhelm responded by advocating for an occupation of their capital Belgrade because the Serbians can't be trusted
-Fischer Thesis: Essentially Germany dreamed of becoming a large colonial power thus by 1911 accepted the risk for war and started to prepare for expansion


Austria-Hungary
-They know that the ultimatum was impossible to accept, thus giving Austria-Hungary the excuse to wage war also bringing in Russia
-Conrad, the greatest advocator for a war against Serbia

Russia
-Partial moblisation starting an European mobilisation
-Franco-Russian alliance (1892) forced France to join a Russian war.
-Russian wishes of united slavic people, aligning themselves with Serbia

France
-Gave a 'blank cheque' to Russia, making no attempt to restrain Russia

Britain
-Policy of splendid isolation, Britain could have stopped the war during the July crisis if she was more decisive and authoritarian

Themes

Nationalism
-Russian wishes of united slavic people, aligning themselves with Serbia

Imperialism
-The Russian quest for a hot water port
-Germany's imperialist dreams of a "place in the sun" causing tension in Africa with Britain.
-Germany's ambition for "Mittelafrika"

Alliance System
-The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the Triple Entente between France, Russia and Britain with various other alliances and allegiances.

Militarism
-From Edward Gray 1909 in reference to the Naval race "[Germany navy is a question of] our independence, our very existence would be at stake"
-From Edward Gray's memoirs '[Militarism] Great armaments lead inevitably to war"

In my opinion,

All nations deserve some blame for their responsibility for WWI, never the less Germany deserves the most for starting a European war and Russia deserves great blame in escalating the conflict from a Balkan conflict, to a European conflict.

Whilst Austrian-Hungarian attempted to use the assasiantion of Franz Ferdinard as an excuse to destroy a rebellious neighbor, Germany alone had the power to halt this aggression but it persisted with it's blank cheque further antagonising the Balkan region.
With Kaiser Wilhelm's militaristic and imperialistic ambitions, Germany was convinced that a European war would fulfill its' "place in the sun" or "millteafrika" thus when Serbia refused the ultimatum, Wilhelm persisted in attacking Serbia
Russia, humiliated after the 1856 defeat in the Crimean war and with a populace increasingly rebellious under the Tsar's rule needed foreign policy success. Hence in an attempt to unify the slavic people, lay her support for Serbia. When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia and encouraged by a blank cheque given to them by France resulted in a Russian moblisation for war; Russia, not Germany moblisised for war thus bringing the Balkan conflict into the European stage with the dragging in of France
Germany panicked over Russian moblisation in 10 days enacted the Schiefflen plan in a desperate attempt to contain a war-ready Russia, thus starting the World War with its attack on neutral Belgium soil.

[Mirakai]

Gavrilo Princep, I think

[Wallenburg]

Austria-Hungary and the Black Hand

[Newne Carriebean7]

Russia, they wanted to eat japan.

[Vashtanaraada]

How about not limiting it to one nation or factor and saying that these all had an effect on the start of the First World War?

The only arguments to be had are those that seek to indicate what was the biggest or more influential of these factors.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Shocker, I blame nationalism and imperialism. A bunch of countries thought they were the best and deserved to rule the world. Without MAD to scare them, war was inevitable.

[Galloism]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver. If he had kept up with the itinerary, no World War 1.

[Internationalist Bastard]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver. If he had kept up with the itinerary, no World War 1.

"Damnit Hanz, you made a wrong turn!"
"Relax, it's not like you'll die"

[New Werpland]

People trying to find an excuse to use their armies.

[Old Tyrannia]

The circumstances surrounding the outbreak of the First World War are complex and cannot be reduced to a simple case of "they started it." Nor can we just say it was "nationalism" that started it and leave it at that. There were numerous decisions made that led to the war and numerous reasons for those decisions.

[Galloism]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver. If he had kept up with the itinerary, no World War 1.

"Damnit Hanz, you made a wrong turn!"
"Relax, it's not like you'll die"

Famous last words, indeed.

[Vashtanaraada]

I've never seen this thread before, in my time on Nationstates and since it's the 100th year anniversary lets do this then, who is to blame for the start of WW1?

On the surface everyone would say Germany because they invaded Belgium. But what about other countries? Russia could be blamed for their partial moblisation fueling an European mobilisation, Austria-Hungary could also be blamed for their impossible ultimatum to Serbia knowing full well Serbia would not accept. Perhaps one cannot blame nations but people or ideas: Nationalism, Imperialism, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Conrad von Hötzendorf could all be blamed for the start of WW1. Listed below is but a very brief summary for the popular causes for the war

Nations

Germany
-Starting the naval arms race between Britain, antagonising Britain
-Schlieffen plan forced Germany to go to war against France if she wanted to go to war against Russia.
-Infamous blank check to Austria-Hungary
-When Serbia accepted the ultimatum, Wilhelm responded by advocating for an occupation of their capital Belgrade because the Serbians can't be trusted
-Fischer Thesis: Essentially Germany dreamed of becoming a large colonial power thus by 1911 accepted the risk for war and started to prepare for expansion


Austria-Hungary
-They know that the ultimatum was impossible to accept, thus giving Austria-Hungary the excuse to wage war also bringing in Russia
-Conrad, the greatest advocator for a war against Serbia

Russia
-Partial moblisation starting an European mobilisation
-Franco-Russian alliance (1892) forced France to join a Russian war.
-Russian wishes of united slavic people, aligning themselves with Serbia

France
-Gave a 'blank cheque' to Russia, making no attempt to restrain Russia

Britain
-Policy of splendid isolation, Britain could have stopped the war during the July crisis if she was more decisive and authoritarian

Themes

Nationalism
-Russian wishes of united slavic people, aligning themselves with Serbia

Imperialism
-The Russian quest for a hot water port
-Germany's imperialist dreams of a "place in the sun" causing tension in Africa with Britain.
-Germany's ambition for "Mittelafrika"

Alliance System
-The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy and the Triple Entente between France, Russia and Britain with various other alliances and allegiances.

Militarism
-From Edward Gray 1909 in reference to the Naval race "[Germany navy is a question of] our independence, our very existence would be at stake"
-From Edward Gray's memoirs '[Militarism] Great armaments lead inevitably to war"

In my opinion,

All nations deserve some blame for their responsibility for WWI, never the less Germany deserves the most for starting a European war and Russia deserves great blame in escalating the conflict from a Balkan conflict, to a European conflict.

Whilst Austrian-Hungarian attempted to use the assasiantion of Franz Ferdinard as an excuse to destroy a rebellious neighbor, Germany alone had the power to halt this aggression but it persisted with it's blank cheque further antagonising the Balkan region.
With Kaiser Wilhelm's militaristic and imperialistic ambitions, Germany was convinced that a European war would fulfill its' "place in the sun" or "millteafrika" thus when Serbia refused the ultimatum, Wilhelm persisted in attacking Serbia
Russia, humiliated after the 1856 defeat in the Crimean war and with a populace increasingly rebellious under the Tsar's rule needed foreign policy success. Hence in an attempt to unify the slavic people, lay her support for Serbia. When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia and encouraged by a blank cheque given to them by France resulted in a Russian moblisation for war; Russia, not Germany moblisised for war thus bringing the Balkan conflict into the European stage with the dragging in of France
Germany panicked over Russian moblisation in 10 days enacted the Schiefflen plan in a desperate attempt to contain a war-ready Russia, thus starting the World War with its attack on neutral Belgium soil.

You could claim that the British were very eager in which to join on the side of France. Their Treaty obligations weren't set in stone and they definitely weren't as close to France as Russia; and their first anti-isolationist treaty happened to be with the Japanese. This could play a major part in their neutrality, and Britain could've easily chosen to not use Belgian sovereignty as an excuse, since they let the Germans declare war on France and offered no actual response to that action in itself.

[The Burke Islands]

Wasn't it the guy who killed Franz Ferdiand?

[The Grey Wolf]

Wasn't it the guy who killed Franz Ferdiand?

Given how trigger happy Austria was to Serbia, think it's safe to say that something would have ignited war eventually.

[Old Tyrannia]

Wasn't it the guy who killed Franz Ferdiand?

That was the spark that lit the fuse, certainly. But the war was a direct result of the alliance system that had already been set up prior to Archduke Franz Ferdinand's assassination, and may have broken out regardless. What's more, there were plenty of opportunities after the assassination where war could have been avoided. Unfortunately a series of poor decisions by all sides escalated the crisis.

[The Serbian Empire]

Archduke Franz Ferdinand's driver. If he had kept up with the itinerary, no World War 1.

Let's also put The Black Hand in there for good measure.

[Equalsun Empire]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

[Galloism]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

This is now my favorite post so far in this thread.

[Nanatsu no Tsuki]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

What, 1500 plus years in advance? Were they consulting the Oracle at Delphi? Those must have been some powerful drugs.

[Ashmoria]

queen Victoria, of course.

if she had been a better grandmother those boys never would have gone to war against each other.

[Vashtanaraada]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

This is now my favorite post so far in this thread.

Let's just say if the Big Bang didn't bloody happen everything would be simpler OK xD

[Internationalist Bastard]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

Actually, I'd blame Paris of Troy. Think about it. If he didn't start banging Helen, the Trojan War never would have started. Without that, the Trojans would have never sailed with Aeneus to Italy. And without them, Romulus never would've even built Rome in the first place.

[Galloism]

This is now my favorite post so far in this thread.

Let's just say if the Big Bang didn't bloody happen everything would be simpler OK xD

see, now that's just a cheap point to grab. that can be used in every "who's responsible for X" thread.

[Equalsun Empire]

Julius Caesar. Just think, if they hadn't defeated the Gauls and seized the title of Emperor, Rome wouldn't have grown powerful! And if Rome hadn't grown powerful, they would have never fallen, giving rise to the Byzantines. And if the Byzantines hadn't fallen to the Ottomans, the Ottoman Empire couldn't have formed. And if the Ottoman Empire hadn't fallen then the Serbs wouldn't have formed a nation. And if the Serbs hadn't formed a nation, the Black Hand would never have formed and Russia wouldn't have pledged to protect Serbia. And if neither of those had happened, Austria wouldn't have gone to war with Serbia which would cause Russia to go to war with Austria which would cause Germany to go to war with Russia and France which would cause France to prepare to defend themselves which would call for the Schlieffen Plan which would cause Britain to declare war on Germany which would force Germany to use unrestricted submarine warfare which would cause the United States to declare war against Germany.

So, it's no wonder the Senate assassinated Caesar, he started World War 1!

Actually, I'd blame Paris of Troy. Think about it. If he didn't start banging Helen, the Trojan War never would have started. Without that, the Trojans would have never sailed with Aeneus to Italy. And without them, Romulus never would've even built Rome in the first place.

Ah, yes. But in that thread, we should really blame Aphrodite for that stupid golden apple, which bribed Paris into banging Helen. And we can blame the oceans after that, since they spawned Aphrodite in the first place. And what's the ocean made of? Salt water.

That's why we can't drink salt water. It started World War I.

[Polar Svalbard]

All I know is that Germany is not to blame, they wanted Austria to do it quick so that a large war could be averted, but Austria took forever and dragged their feet. If they had sent it immediately nobody would have been angry they would have seen the grief, but Austria took 2 months. Then Russia mobilized against Germany, and France Agreed so Germany was forced into it, and then brutally assaulted. Poor Germany.